As far as the "Dead to Me" list goes, I've had one instance where I made sure to send a story to Journal X before editor Y left and editor Z took over, because I knew from long experience that editor Z would never care for anything I sent--but then the changing of the guard took place before the stated deadline, and I got a favorable rejection from editor Z. So far that favorable rejection has led to...another favorable rejection. But still it was a major revelation re my place on the food chain.
I also heard, in a speech by the writer Charles Baxter (who probably ranks among my 10 favorites) that his first major publication was the story he wrote as a farewell letter when he was just about ready to give up on writing.
But yeah, at the same time, I agree that there are places that it makes sense not to waste one's time or postage, after a certain number of rejections.
I just got an e-mail back from a submissions editor saying the poems I sent over a year ago (which an Assistant Editor told me she was personally forwarding to the new editor when I queried about their status six months ago) "were lost during the change of Editors-in-Chief."
I may now need to start my own Dead-to-Me list.
(On the plus side, he did respond to my query in just 1 day).
And perhaps the later exchange should stay your hand, a bit. Changing editors is a chaotic business -- see the recent "Paris Review" changeover, for an example -- and usually the new editor and their team arrives to find a either disarray or a situation they're ill-prepared to deal with. Up to you, of course, but if they seem to have gotten their act together since the change, perhaps it's time to try again.
You raise a good point. Though I think I may hold off on sending anything there right away, for a little while. No sense trying to write a cover letter while feeling exasperated already.
The annoying part is, the old editor wrote a blog post, just before leaving, that might have been about the piece I submitted, and now I may never know.
This, of course, may sound like ideas of reference--and maybe it is. I can be full of myself at times. But the post was about the source material I used--which may not mean much on its own, because it's a pretty well-known story--and said, in greater detail, exactly the same thing that was said by the editor who solicited the same poem a couple of weeks ago at a reading.
ocvictor
I also heard, in a speech by the writer Charles Baxter (who probably ranks among my 10 favorites) that his first major publication was the story he wrote as a farewell letter when he was just about ready to give up on writing.
But yeah, at the same time, I agree that there are places that it makes sense not to waste one's time or postage, after a certain number of rejections.
I may now need to start my own Dead-to-Me list.
(On the plus side, he did respond to my query in just 1 day).
This, of course, may sound like ideas of reference--and maybe it is. I can be full of myself at times. But the post was about the source material I used--which may not mean much on its own, because it's a pretty well-known story--and said, in greater detail, exactly the same thing that was said by the editor who solicited the same poem a couple of weeks ago at a reading.